Looking for opinions on the purchase of a 2010 Clubman S. I have never had a mini before and need to know what to look out for. I have read about the whole N14 thing, but still don't know.

Here are the things I know that were done:
New timing chain
clutch
water pump
brake rotors and pads
AEM intake kit

 

I would look for the best example of a post 3/2012 N18 car that fits my budget. You will be better off in the long run. The fuel pump was updated post March 2012 to a much better design. You will have much less problems with a car to that build spec.

 

Since the 2012's are twice as much as a 10, that puts them out of my budget. I have a bunch of equity in my focus ST and am looking to pay down a bunch of bills. I guess what I am looking for is something that is cheap, fun, and going to last more than a year.

I got burned on an infiniti g35 and my wife is still pissed. I can't handle a repeat of that situation.

Also, it has 84k miles and some sort of exhaust. Everything that has been done was by a bmw guy and not some 18 y/o, no offense to 18 year olds, but...

 

"going to last more than a year"

That is the question! Age has nothing to do with the equation. An 18 y/o can do a proper job and a 40 y/o can screw up a car as well. Get a proper PPI done if you really want to buy it and then hold your breath because it is a MINI.

 

it all depends on the price and if you can do the maintanence yourself or not. all of 2nd gen minis use the same parts, if not similar in design and material. as mentioned above, the N18 bosch high pressure fuel pump is the latest design and so far is holding up just fine. as with any car story, there are happy minions, and there are the not so happy minions.

For the past 5 years, I flipped nothing but 2007 - 2010 N14 minis and few Post 2010 minis and the common denaminator was the timing chain, few oil leaks, and carbon build up.

 

1

 

Come on, you know exactly what i am talking about. If you don't understand, I was making the point that the car was maintained by someone with years of experience in working on BMW's and not a person just hooning around and slapping on silly mods.

 

I would say it worth buying, looks like it’s had the major stuff done that you should be worried about. I’ve had my clubby for less than 2 months and have replaced clutch and coolant tank, 139,xxx on odometer. Paid 5700 cash so no car payment and we are at a point in life where these kind of repairs won’t kill us. Any day I get to drive the mini is a good day. A little overkill but I check the oil once a week, and fill tires if needed. As for mods, I’ve done diy OCC, and have delete tube coming from back of valve cove to intake and I’m not burning oil and not losing any either, this is under 2000 miles with a fresh oil change coming. Deleted turbo muffler on host side so turbo spools quicker. I found on eBay a forge divertor valve replica for 9 bucks and order an Alta spring was 20, so I will let you know how this combo is. If I don’t like it or I see an cel I’ll only be out 9 bucks, the spring will stay in divertor most likely.

 

I would recommend a scanguage 2 as well, I have it set for a/f, boost, water and intake temps. Handy little tool.

 

My 2010 Clubman S has been trouble free since I bought it new. The only mods I've done are; I installed an oil catch can on the PCV line to the turbocharger and blocked off the PCV line to the throttle body. I also wrapped the turbocharger with insulation to reduce underhood temperatures. That's it. The car has 50,000 miles on it. I change the oil every 5000 miles and I just changed the automatic transmission fluid.

 

I've never had any trouble with my 08. I'd get it.

 

Go for it! Life is short. Happy Motoring!

Kat

 

Best thing to do is take her out for a drive and see if she wants to come home with you.

 

I have entered the world of Minis as well, recently purchasing an 09 Clubman with 150XXX miles. I bought it very cheap due to engine problems. This is a bit of a toy to keep me entertained in the winter months of retirement and not my daily driver yet. In my case I had 2 burned exhaust valves on #2 cylinder so did a top end rebuild. What I have noticed is a great amount of the “plumbing” is plastic and guess what, it deteriorates with heat, fuel, oil and age. So I replaced the thermostat housing, water pipe and PCV tube while I was in there. I used all aftermarket parts from eBay and no issues to date. I also replaced the original valve cover with a much newer used one as it was leaking. When the head was off I was pleased to see the intake ports were quite clean. There was some minor carbon build up on the back of the intake valves but they were all replaced on spec anyhow.
The metered intake system is critical to having these cars run well and even something as simple as pinched valve cover gasket can throw a hard to find code (don’t ask me how I know).
If you are handy with wrenches and keep these things in mind you could be in for a lot of fun driving these little machines.
Just remember when it comes to building machinery there is the “right way”, the “wrong way”, and the “German way”. You will understand this if you buy it...

 

My clubby got an upgrade today.

 

My 2010 JCW Clubman has been a blast. I have had it about 5 years and almost all of the money I have spent has been on elective expenses. The after market intercooler was far and away the best thing I did to her. The temperature is unbelievably better. She has 70,000 miles and been to the Dragon and Helen Georgia recently.

 

Someone say dragon, did that trip from Cincinnati last 2 weekends in the clubby, first weekend with daughter, second with wife. Wife and I went to Fontana dam. What a blast to drive.

Daughter hiding

Wife

Duh

Camp ground all to ourselves at Fontana dam

The dam

Overlook on dragon
thats my daughter on wall.